Special wishes to those children who will celebrate their birthdays this week: Dominic K, 5/6I, Mahlia G, 5/6I, Elliarna G, 5/6P, Jerry V, 3/4G.

Congratulations to the following students who achieved a Harmony Award this week.

Well done!!   

We are very excited to offer a Digital Wellbeing Webinar for St Michael’s families, hosted by Leah from The Resilience Project.

Date: Tonight, Wednesday, 19^th March from 6:30 to 7:30 PM

This one-hour webinar guides parents and carers to reflect on their family’s digital wellbeing, before diving into practical strategies to create healthy habits online and strengthen connections at home. This presentation will also unpack the latest research on screen time and its impact on individual and collective wellbeing in the home.

This is a practical and powerful webinar designed to meet the needs or families to ensure students are safe in our digital world. St Michael’s values the wellbeing of all students and has prioritised funding this excellent resource. To register, please use this link. The Resilience Project will then send you a zoom link and calendar invitation.

Flyer_Digital_Wellbeing_webinar.pdf

Project Compassion

Toefuata'iga - (Toy-foo-ah-tah-ing-ah) is a 13-year-old primary school student from Samoa. Samoa may be a country surrounded by water, but access to clean drinking water is scarce in some areas, with many families facing extreme hardship as a result.

Toefuata’iga’s school community struggled without reliable access to clean water, which impacted students’ education and hygiene. Teachers often had to leave the school to fetch water from nearby homes, disrupting lessons and adding strain to the community. When the water ran out at the school, students were sent home which meant they missed out on valuable learning time.

Thanks to the support of Caritas Australia in partnership with Caritas Samoa, Toefuata’iga’s school now has a 10,000 L water tank through a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) program. Teachers and students are now able to focus on education and improved hygiene.

“Now that we have the water tank, things are so much better, we can stay at school all day, and I get to spend more time learning and playing with my friends. I’m happy that we don’t have to go home early anymore.” – said Toefuata'iga.

This transformative story is just one example of how Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion creates waves of change around the world.

Watch Toefuata'iga’s story here.

Will you stand with students like Toefuata'iga this Lent?

A reminder that boxes will be collected at the end of term. Alternatively, you can donate at our school website:

https://fundraise.projectcompassion.org.au/o/st-michaels-primary-school-kaleen

Youth Group

This year all 3-6 students have been invited to attend a Youth Group which is held once a week during lunch time. We gather in friendship and fun, using  Scripture to learn more about our faith. During Lent we are reflecting on how we can use our words and actions to be more like Jesus. The students made posters to encourage others to remember that Lent is a time for almsgiving, fasting and prayer. Congratulations to our Youth Group members for helping to foster and promote our Christian values.

Reconciliation

This Thursday all Year 4 students and Reconciliation candidates, will participate in the Reconciliation Retreat. The day has been planned to support the Religious Education Curriculum which has a focus on penance and forgiveness, as well as supporting our Reconciliation candidates preparing for the Sacrament.

On Thursday students are asked to wear comfortable and appropriate clothing of their choice. Recess will be provided but students will still need to bring their packed lunch, water bottle and a hat.

Any Reconciliation candidates will also need to attend the Parent/Child Formation session which will be held in the evening at 6pm St Michael's Church.

If you have a child enrolled in the Sacrament you are now able to book a time using the Trybooking system. See information below:

Book a time for your child’s Sacrament of Reconciliation THIS WEEK

Trybooking is now open for bookings for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Bookings close this weekend.

To book a 5 minute spot for your child to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation use the links below:

• Tuesday 25 March in St Michael’s Church, Kaleen, between 3.30pm and 5pm (https://www.trybooking.com/DAEAH).
• Wednesday 26 March in St Monica’s Church, Evatt, between 3.30pm and 5.30pm (https://www.trybooking.com/DAEAK).
• Thursday 27 March in St Monica’s Church, Evatt, between 3.30pm and 5.30pm (https://www.trybooking.com/DAEAM).

Registrations are now closed and No Late Registrations can be accepted. 

National Ride2School Day- This Friday 21 March!

Join us at the Kaleen Tennis Courts (Birie Pl) at 8:20am to ride, scoot, skate or walk to school.

Don’t forget your helmet! 

Students will be supervised by staff for the ride from the tennis courts to school.

 Cross Country Helpers

We are still looking for a few parent helpers for our Cross Country. If you can spare a couple of hours from 9-11 on Thursday 3 April, we would appreciate your help. Please contact Erin.hardwicke@cg.catholic.edu.au if you can assist. 

Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge

The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge has commenced for 2025! The theme for this year is ‘Spaces and Places Where we Read.’ All students received their recording sheet in library lessons this week. We encourage all students to participate in the challenge by reading 30 books by 12 September. Books can be physical, digital or audio and include books read independently as well as those read by others.

All completed entry forms can be placed in the prize barrel in the library. The prizes will be drawn at the conclusion of the challenge. Happy Reading!

More information can be found at https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/additional-programs/chief_ministers_reading_challenge

Hi parents and carers,

My name is Jo, and I am happy to be returning to St. Michael's as the school counsellor this year.

The school counselling program can be used as a first port of call in supporting and addressing your child’s mental wellbeing within the school environment. As the school counsellor, I can work with your kids using a short-term, child-led intervention model to support them in addressing any concerns relating to big feelings, relationships, growth and emotional regulation and expression. Through sessions that involve a lot of play, art and talking – I aim to facilitate a safe and objective space for children to explore their feelings and provide guidance and strategies for them to learn to manage and regulate themselves in different contexts.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to enquire further about the service, and whether it might be helpful for your child.

If you would like to make a referral for your child, please use the link below to access the online form. Once this referral has been put through, I will be in touch as soon as possible to chat through your concerns and discuss how the service might be helpful to support your child.

https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

I look forward to working with you and your school throughout 2025.

Links: School Fees Policy Updated

School Sport ACT - ACT Teams Selection - Important Information 

Please see the School Sport ACT webpage http://www.schoolsportaustralia.edu.au/stateterritory-school-sport-offices/school-sport-act/ or Facebook page for the most up to date information.

SCHOOL SPORT ACT TRIALS – Please keep an eye on the School Sport ACT website www.schoolsportact.asn.au for upcoming ACT trials. The process for registering can be found below. If you need any assistance registering your child please feel free to ask for assistance.

How to register your child with School Sport ACT

School Sport ACT now collects all registration information online – this is to prevent the movement to and fro of a paper note and have all information readily available to officials prior to the trial. As this process incurs a fee for data storage, system maintenance and admin, a small fee payment via credit card will be required.

1. Go to the School Sport ACT website – www.schoolsportact.asn.au
2. Click Register (top right corner of homepage) for an Account – enter parent details and password
3. A confirmation email will be sent to your chosen email that will contain a link that you must click on to verify the email account.
4. Click Log In (top right hand corner of home page) enter password then click on top tab My Profile
5. You will see a ‘dashboard’ of your information, click green box to Add Student – enter student and medical details and save.
6. Go to the Sports Tab – choose your specific sport, click on Trial Information box then click on the Register to Trial link.
7. Select your child’s name from the dropdown box and then enter the optional fields for Playing History, Preferred Position (if applicable) and Representative Experience. If you are already in the system, ensure your child’s school is up to date in your profile – have they moved onto High School?

Belnorth Football Club - Registrations Now Open!